Textix - bimanual text-input with joysticks

Text entry is one of the few common bimanual human computer interaction tasks, i.e., both hands are involved. We have devised a novel strategy for entering text using a standard off-the-shelves dual gaming joystick as shown in the following Figure.

Each hand operates each of the joysticks. To input characters the user imagines the joysticks being fingers located at the QWERTY keyboard located between the D and F for the left hand and between the J and K keys for the right hand as shown in the following Figure.

To input a character the user pulls the joystick in the direction of the desired letter. For example, to input R the user will pull the left joystick up and then release the joystick to input the letters.

The technique relies on the users' spatial memory and the widely known qwerty layout is used as a mnemonic, or memory aid, to help users perform each action. For certain directions there are multiple characters and a trie-disambiguation strategy is performed to determine the exact word intended.

Our experiments show that users can input text at reasonable speed, even after just a 30 minute practice session as shown in the Figure above (WPM = words per minute). We also observed an interesting gender related difference. The approach can be applied to textual communication in networked computer games. It also holds potential for eyes-free text input. The technique is documented in:

Frode Eika Sandnes and Andre Aubert, "Bimanual Text Entry using Game Controllers: Relying on Users' Spatial Familiarity with QWERTY", Interacting with Computers, Vol. 19, No. 2, pp. 140-150, 2007.

The strategy also received coverage in the Norwegian media, including forskning.no, IT-avisen and Journalen.